Since 2009, The How I Learned Series has featured writers, storytellers, comedians, and other raconteurs holding forth on lessons learned, unlearned, relearned or in progress. The How I Learned Series happens once a month, and sometimes more than that, which basically means you will have the best night of your life on those nights, repeatedly.

Thank you to everyone who came out last month to How I Learned to Make the Grade: Stories About Education. It was a beautiful, balmy evening and you elected to come spend the night with us inside a dark red room with a super sticky floor. Good choice! Plus, no one got detention (except for the dude at the bar whose phone started playing music from his groin pocket for, like, three minutes -- and it was FREE JAZZ) and no one got expelled. I had grounded myself when I got home, but that's my problem.

Also, I applauded so hard during this last show that I broke a ring I was wearing. To be fair, it was hematite, and that shit breaks super easy. And also Mercury was (is??) in retrograde SO HARD, which was/is bullshit. But, still, I loved this lineup and I think they should all go on tour together.

MARK SAM ROSENTHAL on peer pressure, the perils of being deemed gifted and talented at a young age, and some weird academic advice from mom. What HIL intern Lyra Smith learned from Mark Sam's story: "Just because your favorite sweater in 7th grade is from JC Penney, that doesn't mean you shouldn't live up to your full potential." It's really true.

ANNA NORTH flew too close to the sun for her very serious 8th grade video dramatization of Homer's The Odyssey -- and her friend and cinematographer stood too close to the water with the fancy camera, ended up with a head injury, and the film was submitted for class unfinished. The hero never even made it home. SHOW BIZ!

MICHAEL MALICE went with a "good lessons from bad teachers" theme. He also reminded us of the valuable lesson a child eventually -- and often accidentally -- learns, which is that not all adults know what other adults know. It's a big epiphany that comes in quite handy throughout adolescence.

ROSIE SCHAAP had the strange experience of dialing up her shrink of 25 years ago to get some answers as to why she was kicked out of school in 8th grade. Was she as crazy as she'd been led to believe? The former shrink couldn't remember why either, and added that, as far as he knew, the school didn't have anything against her. Which, of course, is as comforting as it is confusing.

PETER AGUERO, otherwise known as "Mr. A," was that really cool and totally inappropriate high school teacher who you've never forgotten about. You can be sure, at least for one reason or another, he's never forgotten about you either. He's still got your number.

Next Up:

HOW I LEARNED IT'S A LIVING!

Stories from the Unemployed, the Underemployed, and the Working Stiffs

Wednesday, April 25th at the usual time and place! Stay tuned for details...

YOUR HOST:

Blaise Allysen Kearsley is a Brooklyn based writer, storyteller, and sometime photographer, as well as the creator, producer, and host of the How I Learned series, and the producer of Best In Show. She also does some other stuff too. She has performed in storytelling shows and readings all over New York. Her writing has been published in Midnight Breakfast, VICE, The Weeklings, The Nervous Breakdown, two anthologies, and in several other places a long time ago, which are perhaps not worth mentioning by name. One time, she was awarded a month-long writing fellowship in Vermont where she got electrocuted and maybe almost killed a horse. Visit her at your own risk at www.bazima.com.